Michael Moore has again entered the spotlight. Part of his latest documentary, Sicko was filmed in Cuba. He took a number of ill first responders to the attacks of 9/11 to that country to receive treatment, in order to make the point that Castro's health care system is superior to that of the United States.
The United States has had a trade and tourism embargo against Cuba for around half a century. If an American decides to travel to that country, without proper permission, they've broken the law. Michael Moore allegedly did that, thus he's being investigated by the Treasury Department.
Moore is claiming that the Bush Administration and the Health Care industry are involved in a joint effort to silence him. The film maker never bothered to consider that perhaps making a public display of what might be an illegal act is generally a good way to get the federal government to investigate you, regardless of the regime that is in power. This claim is also absurd because he really has no evidence to back up that there's any conspiracy to silence him. There are no smoking gun documents or recorded messages saying, "Hey, let's finally shut this Michael Moore guy up." If anything, the Bush administration, if it is as draconian as he claims it is, would have done this years ago after the release of Fahrenheit 9/11. I'd think that the Carlyle Group, Halliburton, and the oil industry would have influenced the President to silence Michael Moore ages ago.
It's doubtful that jailing Moore would stop the release of his documentary in any case, nor would it really put a large dent in the number of people who hate George Bush from being outspoken. Mocking that man is probably one of the safest things one can possibly do in America today. People like him need to consider that doing illegal things that are absolutely irrelevant in relation to their opinion might be the reason they're getting jailed, not their criticisms.
Friday, May 11, 2007
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